BSE meat from foreign cattle may be ending up in burgers

By David Brown, Agriculture Editor

12:00AM GMT 20 Dec 2000

A LEGAL loophole still leaves the British public at risk from BSE tainted French beef.

Prof Harriet Kimbell, a member of the Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory Committee (SEAC) and senior government adviser, disclosed that beef from cattle more than 30 months old could be imported from France, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and other countries affected by mad cow disease and processed into products sold in this country.

She suggested that the committee had been misled into thinking that consumer safeguards in Britain were stronger than they are. Until now, the Government has restricted its warnings to the possibility of risks from meat products manufactured abroad and from rogue traders.

She said: "The regulations are not as we thought they were. It is highly likely that meat from cattle over 30 months old is being sold in this country." It is illegal in Britain to use any beef from cattle over 30 months of age for human consumption. Until yesterday it was generally understood that all meat from older cattle could only be brought into Britain if it was destined for re-export.

Prof Kimbell said that she and other members of SEAC were surprised to discover that the ruling applied only to fresh meat. Manufacturers could import beef and process it, after which it was legal to sell it here. So far there are 88 known and probable cases of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in Britain. Five victims are still alive. Four cases are know to have occurred abroad - one in Ireland and three in France.

All the major supermarkets have denied that they sell French beef or products made from it but about 5,000 tons a year are imported here. Thousands of tons of Irish beef are also imported.

The Food Standards Agency, the body responsible for protecting the public from BSE and other food-borne dangers, admitted last night that it has known about this loophole for some time. It has so far advised the Government that there is no need to ban imports of French beef to protect consumers.

The Tories immediately demanded a statement from Nick Brown, Minister of Agriculture, who was at a meeting of EU farm ministers in Brussels last night, and from the Food Standards Agency.

Tim Yeo, shadow minister of agriculture, said: "This is a very serious disclosure. It is ridiculous that we have rules in the United Kingdom to destroy all cattle more than 30 months old to protect people from BSE and then import meat from the same category of cattle which is then sold to our consumers."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture said: "This is a matter for the Food Standards Agency."